A Quebec woman on long-term sick leave is fighting to have her benefits reinstated after her employer’s insurance company cut them, she says, because of photos posted on Facebook…

…She said her insurance agent described several pictures Blanchard posted on the popular social networking site, including ones showing her having a good time at a Chippendales bar show, at her birthday party and on a sun holiday — evidence that she is no longer depressed, Manulife said…

…Blanchard said that on her doctor’s advice, she tried to have fun, including nights out at her local bar with friends and short getaways to sun destinations, as a way to forget her problems…

…Her lawyer Tom Lavin said Manulife’s investigation was inappropriate. “I don’t think for judging a mental state that Facebook is a very good tool,” he said.

Read the Full Article Here >>.

From the Seattle Times:

Seattle police say a man who believed he was a ninja was impaled by a spike when he tried to jump over a metal fence.

At 11:15 last night, a police officer was looking for the victim of a reported assault in the 600 block of Seventh Avenue when she encountered the man impaled on a metal fence and screaming for help. Seattle Fire Department medics were called and removed the man from a fence spike and transported him to nearby Harborview Medical Center. Officers, believing the man might have been involved in the assault, spoke with him at the hospital. The man said he was not involved. Instead, he said he thought he was a ninja and would be able to leap over the 4- to 5-foot fence.

As a police account of the incident notes, “Clearly he was overconfident in his abilities.”

This article can be read in its original format here >>.

LIMA, PERU — “They call me the hardware store,” says Requelme Abanto from his hospital bed in northern Peru.

Doctors in the city of Cajamarca say they removed 1.5 pounds of metal from Abanto’s stomach, including nails, coins, and rusted copper wire and scrap metal…

…The 26-year-old construction worker ate the metal for months, and told Peru’s Channel 9 television that he may now do it in public “as sport.”

“I swallowed 17 nails in February and didn’t die,” he said. “Five-inch nails, all in one day.”

Full Story Here >>.

Two Things.

First of all the competitive eating world could always use a few more “extreme” events like eating scrap metal, so I whole-heartedly support Abanto’s dream of making his neurosis a career.

Second, I just happen think the proclamation  “I ate 17 nails last February and didn’t die” is an instant classic.

An obscure blogger unearths some pages of President Obama’s college thesis. The report supposedly comes from big-time journalist Joe Klein of Time magazine. And the thesis has some real gems: like Obama’s disdain for the Constitution.

The whole thing was nothing more than a satirical post on a humor blog. But Rush Limbaugh, who quoted from the supposed thesis on his radio show, sure wasn’t laughing. Here’s how it went down.

An unknown blogger picked up on a made-up post meant as a joke, which claimed that Joe Klein had gotten his hands on 10 pages of student Obama’s college thesis. Rush Limbaugh jumped on it, which immediately sparked Web searches on “obama thesis.”

Supposedly titled “Aristocracy Revisited,” the excerpt revealed the president had “doubts” about the “so-called founders.” Juicy. Except not true. Limbaugh discovered halfway through his show that he’d been had, but defended himself by saying basically the thesis felt true.

Read the rest here >>.

Now, I’m sure that whipping Rush Limbaugh into a hysterical frenzy is probably easier than shooting fish in a barrel; and guys like him are always looking for the next morsel of “scandalous” flame-bait for their audience. This directive often overrides any sense of journalistic integrity they may have, so you can expect this sort of thing to happen every so often.

But while it might feel good to see ol’ Rush played for a fool it points to another disturbing trend. The 24/7 news-opinion media is a voracious machine and it’s really expensive to feed, so having all this “free” information online at less than arm’s length away  is really tempting – sometimes too tempting. As the news media continues to rely more heavily on easy, cheap, and unregulated sources of information we should expect to see more such hoax’s being passed off (initially) as news – followed of course by the “real media’s” indignant whining every time the work of some “charlatan” exposes their news departments as being the lazy, opportunistic, and sometimes just under-funded beasts they are.

Oh, and notice how often in this crazy new world information that can’t be proven, or even flat-out wrong, is increasingly justified on the basis that it simply “rings true” with the reader – as Rush’s response to being “had” makes abundantly clear.

Anyone with half a brain knows you can’t trust the mainstream for reporting anything except the outcomes of major sporting events, and that’s most likely because there are  usually upward of 50,000 eye-witnesses on the scene at any given time. Luckily, the Internet seems full of enough “alternative media” to keep all our heads fat and happy. Not so fortunate is  that quite often these sources feature poorly researched and ethically questionable “news reports” with production values worse than the shoe-box diorama I made in kindergarten.

Which is why one of news and opinion sites I do recommend is The Reality News Network. Featuring a good chunk of high quality video reporting as well as  interviews with real experts and other people you’ve actually heard of, RNN is worth a visit or two.

According to celebrity news source Perez Hilton, R. Kelly isn’t much a fan of reading – not even in grade school. Luckily a persistent teacher saw his undeniable writing talent and encouraged him to finish school anyways. Hooray for inspirational school teachers!

R. Kelly quotes from article:

“I don’t even read really and I’m not afraid to say that,” revealed Kelly. “The only reason I graduated from grammar school is because I had a great jump shot.”

“I went to high school and [my teacher] told me, ‘You will be one of the greatest writers of all time,’” said Kelly. “I believed. You [have to] believe it. You can’t believe [anything] if you’re hating.”

Link to full story here.

Artist's depiction of a typical panda encounter.

Now I’m not the kind of guy that thinks a developed sense reason and finer emotional sensibilities are always incompatible, but stories like this make countering that argument a lot harder than it ought to be. Come on nature lovers, help me out for a change!

“Desperate David Phyall, 50, plugged the electric chainsaw into the mains and attached a timer to the socket. He then wrapped sellotape around the machine’s trigger to secure it in the ‘on’ position and tied the handle of the saw to a table leg to hold it steady. Mr Phyall rested the saw on his neck and waited for the timer to go off. The Black and Decker chainsaw sliced through his neck in an instant but kept going for a further 15 minutes.”

Blecch!

- James Quinn, Our Coming Depression.

Quinn’s analysis at SeekingAlpha.com is a lengthy and as far as I can tell very well researched and cogent analysis of the so-called “market-meltdown” as any I’ve read so far. Given all the hyperbole about the “next Great Depression” its nice to find some actual contrast and comparison between then and now. Enjoy reading this at work today with the understanding that you’ll be taking a good half hour of company time which as it turns out you may not be getting paid for anyway.

“HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – A man who received a heart transplant 12 years ago and later married the donor’s widow died the same way the donor did, authorities said: of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.”

Man with suicide victim’s heart takes own life